Christmas ideas with Basic Grey Juniper Berry

Basic Grey - Juniper Berry Christmas projectsHi everyone!
It’s Nat here, back with some more Christmas card ideas now that we are fast approaching December.
One of my absolute favourite sneak peek releases when I saw it in the summer was Basic Grey’s Juniper Berry collection.
I am an absolute sucker for Christmas and winter products, and I think Christmas cards are usually my favourite to make, so when I saw just what this collection offered in terms of design and colour I immediately added it to the top of my mental wishlist!
Sadly some of the items from the collection are now out of stock, but if you managed to grab the cardstock stickers and ephemera pack before they went, I do use them in this post along with almost all the papers.
My shopping list for this year’s Christmas crafting also included two extremely versatile papers from Basic Grey’s B-side collection which I think are a perfect complement to Juniper Berry:

Here’s everything I used:

The main appeal for me of this collection was the way it includes about 5 different looks in one line that all perfectly work together.

You have your traditional Christmas colours.
You have plenty of winter crisp shades and designs with a mix of berries and trees.
Then you have cute and whimsical characters.
Plus softer tones mixed in for more subtle projects.
And finally bolder design elements that mix well with a cool, minimal almost Scandinavian-style with neutral tones.
So here’s how I put them all together for my first proper crafting session with this collection.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Joy cardThe natural elements like this wood pattern really make the brighter shades in the line stand out. I simply used one of the designs from the journaling card paper as the sentiment for this card.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Joy card - detailIt just needed a few accents to lift it so I used a tag from the ephemera pack and tied it on with twine and added a little heart die-cut from the B-side of the wood Rooftop paper.
I love that there are a few solid staple shades included in the B-sides for some of the papers, makes colour matching for extra accents and matting and layering that much easier.
The dots on the Ys are also decorated with a bit of glittery dimensional paint for added Christmas sparkle.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Joy to the World cardThis card uses the cooler natural tones in the collection. The kraft stripe pattern of the Merrily paper is paired up with the A-side and B-side of the Maybe paper from Basic Grey’s B-side collection.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Joy to the World card - detailI found a use for the antlers in the ephemera pack (I seem to have a small stockpile of antler and deer head accents from 2015 releases that I am still trying to find a use for – and Christmas cards seem to be the best use right now!) and used them to bracket this greeting which is also from the ephemera pack. I added some red Stickles to accent the design and gold enamel dots were a nice match for the overall look.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Merry Christmas card
This card uses the lovely Lump of Coal paper which is sadly out of stock – it has a great grey on black scripty B-side which I used to mount the sentiment before popping it inside the matching frame from the ephemera pack. I love how the wintry blue background goes with the bright No Peeking bow pattern. I don’t think you can go wrong with mixing and matching pale blue/aqua and red accents on Christmas cards. It’s a real favourite combo of mine.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Merry Christmas card - detail
I wanted to complement the red berries and added some holly leaves cut from the Balsam paper, a vellum snowflake and a couple of jingle bells tied with twine.
In general the striped pattern of the Balsam paper is perfect for die-cutting and punching foliage accents like holly leaves, fir trees, wreaths, etc. It really gives them character.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Peace on Earth cardThis card is one I had been looking forward to making. I don’t think there’s anything I like more than creating little wintry scenes on cards and well that pink Jolly Bear paper was begging to be used with something very sweet. It looks especially good against the whimsical grey pattern of that Stellar paper from the B-side collection. To me it looked like falling snow on a wintry night. 🙂
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Peace on Earth card - detailMany of the papers in this collection go really well with stamped and coloured characters and I think the look of this little girl and her own jolly bear pal are a perfect fit. Just backing a circle aperture in your card with the aqua Workshop paper creates an instant snowy scene and even a snow globe look. I also love how the trees in the Holly Jolly paper are a great match for the tree design on the tag from the ephemera pack.
And speaking of whimsical characters, they don’t get cuter than this next paper I used called Reindeer Games.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Comfort and Joy cardI love the forest scene with the reindeer, squirrels and birds. Really sweet and fun!
It’s great on its own or paired with the green striped paper of the Balsam pattern. I inked the edges at the top with Mowed Lawn Distress ink for a bit more definition.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Comfort and Joy card - detailThe Good Cheer paper has this fab red and white design on its B-side and you can’t go wrong with a bit of red and green. I used the Comfort and Joy sentiment from the ephemera pack but mounted it on a banner sticker to make it stand out more and added a couple of red enamel dots as berries.
Also to make the scallop edge stand out more, the scallops have 3D foam tape behind them while the paper at the top is glued straight onto the card base.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Noel cardI wasn’t quite done with creating cute wintry scenes. I cut some trees from the left-over scraps of the Balsam paper and also the hill of trees is cut from the white plain B-side of the No Peeking paper.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Noel card - detailThe star was from the ephemera pack and is a great match for the dotty side of the Maybe paper, a strip of which I also used for the greeting.
Again I cut the red heart from the B-side of the Rooftop paper. And that Workshop paper for the snowy sky just brings the whole card together. If you wanted to create some sparkly snowfall, then all you’d need to do is apply some Stickles here and there on those dots and it would look lovely.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Ho Ho Ho cardWith this last card I finally had an excuse to use up perhaps one of the oldest sets of stickers in my stash. Back in the days when I discovered scrapbooking products in the UK (circa 2003) I had a spree buying up Jolee’s Boutique sticker packs, and they included a set called Santa’s Suit.
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Ho Ho Ho card - detailWhen I saw that Ho ho ho! sticker I knew I needed to get Santa onto one of my cards somehow. And his hat made it!
Finally before tidying up for the day I wanted to used some of the smaller scraps up rather than send them to the bin and made this tag with what was left on my desk.
Just a couple of star dies scored from point to indent and glued together, add something in the centre and a bit of twine and you have a tag or ornament ready to go!
Basic Grey - Juniper Berry - Cheers bottle tagI thought this one would be perfect looped around the neck of a bottle – either on your Christmas table or when given as a gift.
Well I hope these projects have given you some new ideas for using the Basic Grey Juniper Berry collection and for spotting other items from your stash that might go nicely with it in Christmas projects.
Until next month – happy crafting!
NAT

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